Almost done, and done

 We had a zoom class between Christmas and New Year's, to cover the gold work, and the making of Katayori. This lead to the motivation to get a move on and finish Hiogi. Once the golden rib was complete, the end felt really achievable by the end of January. Hiogi was completed on the 19th, and off to the framer so that I could show it off at our local embroiderers' guild meeting on the 26th of January. Here it is laced on to foamcore, ready to go to the framer.

It was some pretty steady stitching to finish, and I am thrilled with the result. I know it isn't perfect, but it is as perfect as I could make it. It never ceases to amaze me how the finishing part of the beating the embroidery while still on the frame and pasting up and steaming changes the look of the piece, The silk in areas that looked like they had been rubbed a bit and were starting to look fuzzy become shiny again and lie as they should and the fuzzy effect lies flatter and just look better. It is hard to explain, but the finishing makes all the difference in the world.

The gold rib alone took 15 hours after the class to complete, I haven't gone back yet and added up all of the hours that went into this piece. I think my favourite part was stitching the cords and tassels, and my least favourite was the fuzzy effect snowflakes. The gold rib was fascinating, as it is mostly one pair of #5 Japan gold threads, that is couched around the shape until it was all filled in.

Once that was complete, the other bits that needed finishing were achieveable, but not as noticeable in a big way, like finishing the short stitch holding in the green pawlonia leaf, and the short stitch holding in the cherry blossom cloud. 

The katayori was interesting to twist and I managed to twist all of the needed threads in two sessions. Couching took longer and I found I needed to couch three pairs of katayori to cover the guide lines of the clouds, instead of just two as called for in the box chart. 

Here the katayori is complete and the last bit of work, the dreaded fuzzy effect snowflakes being worked on. I had completely stitched the large snowflake on the upper right, and then took the whole thing out because it was awful. Here, the white soft twist foundation is back, ready for the pale grey layer, and the third snowflake is being planned to peek over the top of the fan on the upper left. Once these were done, the last bit was to couch the gold of the inner ribs, and the outer line on the left and the arc of the fan. Stitching the ribs was quite tedious and time consuming, as I chose not to just clip the threads on the back and let them dangle in the Japanese way once they were plunged to the back, but I turned each one back and whip stitched them down. They aren't going anywhere in my opinion.

I took the final pictures of the front and the back before pasting up and sent them to my teacher, Marian, for her approval.

And here it is on the wall of my living room, where I can enjoy it as much as I would like.

We are planning on starting 'Karahana' , a phase 4 piece, via zoom, at the end of February, if everyone who is joining the class has all their materials by then.

The golden main rib

 After picking at bits and pieces for a while, and developing a true hate for the cherry blossoms on Hiogi, we decided to have another zoom session over the Christmas break to look at some of the elements needed for finishing. 

I know I need to redo the snowflake on the upper right, it is too ugly, and the cherry blossom cloud needs a fair bit of work, it is fair to say that no more classes are needed for Hiogi. Karahana has arrived in the mail, and I am ready to move on to phase 4. 

Things to watch for while stitching the gold rib: the couching thread likes to knot itself up, and can make a ball of mess on the back, so let it untwist every once in a while to help prevent knots. use a ruler to line up the long sides especially the side where the cords make a gap in the gold. Mine could be straighter, but will do. the cloud side is nice and straight, it is the lining up of the lower side that I wouldn't give it 100%. 

It was interesting going around in the circle at the base of the rib, keeping the koma moving and snugbut not too snug helpe keep things lined up.

Slow and steady filling in the spaces.

It took about 15 hours to stitch the whole rib, over 4 days, but I am feeling good about it.  The end is in sight.

The elements that need to be completed are 

1) finishing the short stitch holding in the green leaf

2) redo the upper left snowflake

3) the cherry blossoms, and short stitch holding on the cherry blossom cloud

4) the Katayori pairs around the clouds

5) the Katayori around three of the the paulownia leaves

6) add a third snowflake

7) the thin gold rib lines

8) the #5 gold along the arc of the fan and one straight edge

The trick is to keep plugging away at it.

We talked about making the katayori in the zoom class too, and I have some of those threads made up. I quite enjoyed twisting those threads up.